Police take tough stance on lawbreakers in Boksburg
The Ekurhuleni SAPS Central Cluster and EMPD have undertaken intensified law enforcement efforts to stamp out criminal behaviour in Boksburg.
To bolster their tough stance on people who have no respect for the law, police went all out over the weekend to catch criminals.
They conducted a weekend-long joint crime operation throughout Boksburg, and managed to bring a number of suspects to book for their alleged criminal behaviour.
The joint police operation, by the Ekurhuleni SAPS Central Cluster and EMPD, led by Boksburg SAPS’ station commander, Col Daniel Baloyi, focused on drug-related offences, shady liquor outlets and stop-and-search operations.
During the operation, scores of people were apprehended for dealing and being in possession of drugs, and for dealing in liquor without a licence.
Some suspects were arrested for other various crimes including drunk driving, and reckless and negligent driving.
Police also confiscated liquor and drugs, including 20 000 mandrax tablets valued at R1-million, which were discovered during a traffic stop-and-search on the N17 highway, on Sunday.
The illegal shebeen operators were arrested in Jerusalem informal settlement, after they were found running shebeens without liquor licences on their properties.
More than 850 bottles of beer, nine 20-litre containers filled with umqombothi and music systems were confiscated from the illegal shebeens.
Officers also carried out inspections of licensed liquor premises, to ensure that their licences were still valid and check that the operators were complying with the Gauteng Liquor Act.
One licensed tavern on Main Reef Road, opposite Angelo informal settlement, was found to be contravening the Liquor Act by allegedly distributing alcohol to illegal shebeens and not having all its papers in order.
Its liquor licence was temporarily suspended over the weekend.
Some residents in the informal settlements are not happy with the vigorous enforcement action against illegal shebeens in their areas. But a handful of residents of the informal settlements, where illegal shebeens are causing havoc, have welcomed the closure of illegal shebeens and the rooting out of nearby legal liquor outlets that are not complying with the liquor laws.
For a while, community leaders in the informal settlements have been accusing illegal shebeens of disturbing the peace because they operate 24/7. They added that they are the major contributors to social ills.
Both the police and concerned residents believe that these illegal shebeens and nearby legal taverns are the contributing factors to the scourge of deadly violence, robberies, sexual assaults and domestic violence which are common in the informal settlements.
The Boksburg police vowed that continuous action would be taken against transgressors, and urged members of the public to help by reporting illegal activities in their communities, in particular illegal shebeens and legal liquor outlets that are not complying with the Act.
Members of the EMPD have also been aggressively going after the said drug dealers in the city of late, and they have had great successes in discovering illicit substances across Boksburg and Boksburg North in particular. -@FanieFLK
